Contemporary Native Hawaiian Issues
Native Hawaiians striving for self-determination now face many land and water rights issues, as existing water policies that are founded by Anglo Americans have no basis in ancient Hawaiian practices. Many legal issues can be found on homestead land whose purpose is to help support Native Hawaiians in their pursuit of self-sufficiency and self-determination, similar to Indian reservations in the continental U.S. Although water is a constitutional right that is afforded to all homesteaders, not all homestead lands receive this right. Many are not recognized as homestead land, they are underrepresented in legal settings, or the law is misinterpreted to undermine homesteaders at the state level (Liu 2002). Besides these homestead issues, Native Hawaiians face other forms of structural violence, as they are some of the most marginalized and disenfranchised groups in the islands. Commercialization and private property has driven the cost of living up for all residents, those being at the bottom suffering the most from the effects. Hawai’i is home to the highest percentage of millionaires in the nation, and according to the 2011 U.S. census had the highest median housing costs for renters in the country at $1,308, and currently falls within the top three most expensive states in the country (“Population Estimates” 2013). Native Hawaiian families in Hawai’i have both the lowest mean family income and per capita income of all major ethnic groups, and almost 15% of Native-Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders live in poverty when compared to the national average of 9.8% (Kana'iaupuni 2005). They experience the second highest rate of unemployment at 12.5%, following closely behind American Indians and Alaskan Natives. They not only suffer from the high cost of living and unemployment, but Native Hawaiians fall behind in other areas such as education. Unfortunately foreign investments have been advanced, at the expense of Native Hawaiians, and land and water management systems have departed from the ways of old.
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Previous works of the author
Although I do not discuss the possibility of creating portfolios through digital platforms, overall this project somewhat reflected that notion as I have included PDF versions of previous works of mine regarding indigenous issues.Posted on 14 May 2014, 8:35 am by Ilima-Lei Macfarlane | Permalink
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